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The Florida mom who got Amanda Gorman’s poem restricted says she’s sorry for promoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
(JTA) – Months before a Miami-area mother persuaded a local school to remove an Amanda Gorman poem from its elementary-aged library, she was posting antisemitic memes on her Facebook page.
Now, Daily Salinas is apologizing for one of those things — and unrepentant about the other.
“I want to apologize to the Jewish community,” Salinas told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Wednesday. She was saying sorry for a Facebook post she shared in March offering a summary of “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” a notorious antisemitic forgery written more than a century ago in Russia.
“I’m not what the post says,” Salinas said. “I love the Jewish community.”
The post came to light this week after the Miami Herald identified Salinas as the Miami Lakes, Florida, mother who petitioned her children’s school to limit students’ access to the Gorman poem. Gorman read the poem, called “The Hill We Climb,” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Salinas also petitioned the school to restrict children’s books about the Black poet Langston Hughes and about Black and Cuban history. After a committee reviewed her challenges, the Miami-Dade County school district opted to restrict all but one book about Cuba from grades K-5, while leaving them available to middle school students.
Salinas challenged the Gorman poem — which she says she hasn’t read in its entirety — on the grounds that it contains “indirect hate messages.” The review committee said it “erred on the side of caution” in deciding to limit students’ access.
The Miami Herald did not mention Salinas’ social media activity. But after the story about her was published, a left-wing group, Miami Against Fascism, called attention to a Facebook account it identified as hers. The account, which JTA reviewed, features a flood of political posts reflecting right-wing ideologies — and the antisemitic Protocols.
Salinas’ post about the Protocols included a list of steps depicting how “Jewish Zionists” would achieve world domination. The graphic included stages such as “Place our agents and helpers everywhere,” “Replace royal rule with socialist rule, then communism, then despotism,” and “Sacrifice people (including Jews sometimes) when necessary.”
Reached by JTA on Wednesday, Salinas confirmed that the post about the “Protocols” was hers and apologized for it, saying she hadn’t read it beyond the word “communism.” Salinas said her aversion to communism stems from her Cuban identity. She added that English is not her first language.
“I see the word ‘communism,’ and I think it’s something about communism,” she said. “I didn’t read the words.”
Salinas said that her heart became “tight” with pain when she thought that people would see her as antisemitic for sharing the Protocols post. After speaking with JTA, Salinas deleted the post.
Salinas said she was speaking with JTA after declining to talk with other media outlets so that she could apologize. She said she is Christian and added, “We are super protective of the Jewish people.” She added that she has Jewish friends and is a fan of the Israeli Netflix series “Fauda.”
She said the books about Cuba that she challenged “don’t tell the whole story about Cuba, communism, the dictators, their people that are dying and trying to come to America.” The significant population of Spanish-speaking immigrants from countries with a history of communism, many of whom tend to be politically conservative, has played a growing role in the region’s culture wars.
Salinas’ Facebook feed reflects the kinds of right-wing memes that continue to circulate widely, although she told JTA that she did not post everything on it herself. Miami Against Fascism also shared video of Salinas with the Proud Boys, a far-right group with ties to antisemitic activists, as well as a video of her attending a school board protest last year with Moms For Liberty, a “parents’ rights” group active in pushing for book removals across the country. Such groups have been instrumental in leveraging laws signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that enable parents to challenge the presence of any book in school libraries. In some instances, those challenges have led to the removal of books about the Holocaust and Jewish culture.
Salinas told JTA she was not a member of either group and said she had just been in attendance at protests where they were both present. A Moms For Liberty media representative also told JTA Salinas was not a member of the group and said, “We denounce antisemitism in all its forms.”
Asked why she wanted the books removed in the first place, Salinas said she had just been expressing her “opinion” that they did not “support the curriculum” but declined to elaborate.
She said she had only read parts of the books. “They have to read for me because I’m not an expert,” she said. “I’m not a reader. I’m not a book person. I’m a mom involved in my children’s education.”
A representative of the school district told JTA in a statement that “no literature (books or poem) has been banned or removed,” and that “it was determined at the school” that Gorman’s poem was “better suited for middle school students.” In publicly available meeting minutes, the review committee said the “vocabulary” of Gorman’s poem was “determined to be of value for middle school students,” and similarly that the “content and subject matter” of the Hughes poems were determined to be for middle school readers. The district did not respond to JTA’s queries about Salinas’ Facebook activity.
Gorman said on Twitter that she was “gutted” by the removal in Salinas’ children’s school. “Often all it takes to remove these works from our libraries and schools is a single objection,” she wrote.
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The post The Florida mom who got Amanda Gorman’s poem restricted says she’s sorry for promoting the Protocols of the Elders of Zion appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Investing in Early Career Nonprofit Professionals Strengthens the Entire Jewish Community
Demonstrators at pro-Israel rally in Hamburg, Germany. Photo: Screenshot
The Jewish community and the nonprofit organizations that sustain it are facing major challenges today, including rising antisemitism and deep polarization around Israel. These are exacerbating already high rates of burnout and turnover among those who work at Jewish nonprofits, especially early-career professionals.
According to a 2025 Leading Edge report on the “state of Jewish nonprofit talent,” only half of employees under age 30 expect to remain at their organization two years from now. This poses a serious threat to the sector’s talent pipeline and raises an urgent question: How can Jewish organizations, foundational for communities and Jewish life, keep early-career professionals passionate and engaged for the long-run?
Research from M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education’s recent Hope Study highlights two factors linked to sustained engagement among Jewish communal professionals: work energy, defined as feeling energized by one’s work, and Jewish belonging, a meaningful connection to the Jewish people and community. Professionals who experience both are more likely to remain in the field over time. For organizations focused on retention, cultivating these conditions early in a professional’s career should be a strategic priority.
Professional development (PD) has long been one of the primary tools that organizations use to build a sense of belonging and purpose among staff. However, traditional models often reserve this type of investment for mid-career or senior staff who have already demonstrated staying power. If a substantial portion of young professionals leave Jewish nonprofits within their first two years, waiting until mid-career to invest does not make sense.
Instead, we advocate for Jewish nonprofits to invest in early-career PD, starting from the onboarding process. Alongside tangible skill-building, PD should also draw on Jewish values and learning to help professionals think through the real responsibilities and tensions of communal work. When colleagues explore these questions together, they deepen their connection to the mission and build peer relationships that support them in their roles.
Over time, we believe that PD rooted in both tangible skill-building and Jewish purpose will create internal leadership pipelines for people who are actually invested in the community’s future. It strengthens organizational continuity, reduces turnover costs, and ultimately benefits the Jewish communities these institutions exist to serve. To realize these gains, however, organizations must approach early-career development intentionally.
Professional Development Begins With Onboarding
Professional development should begin on day one. Organizations have an opportunity to equip new employees during their first year with foundational skills in navigating the workplace, teamwork, and sector knowledge. This includes engagement with Jewish texts and ideas that offer language for working through tensions that arise in daily workplace dynamics as well as in broader communal conversations, including Israel and antisemitism. Understanding the language, history, and structure of the field strengthens an employee’s connection to mission and purpose, and helps them succeed, all fostering retention.
This is particularly important in a workforce where 38 percent of employees are not Jewish. Thoughtful onboarding helps ensure that talented professionals are not left to navigate cultural norms or communal rhythms on their own and increase belonging. New early career PD programs, including M²’s Aleh Summit and Leading Edge’s Onboarding Intensive, are responding to these needs by integrating Jewish learning into PD and making what is often implicit, explicit.
Articulate a Clear Growth Trajectory
Early-career professionals benefit from clear direction from upper management. Organizations should encourage supervisors to outline a six-to-twelve-month growth arc and identify the skills, responsibilities, and capacities the employee is expected to develop and ultimately own in that time. This may include naming particular leadership competencies or framing stretch assignments as deliberate developmental steps. Professional growth in Jewish nonprofits should also focus on ways to explore and deepen employees’ understanding of the Jewish values and organizational norms that drive the organization. This strengthens long-term commitment to service and can contribute to motivation at work.
Setting measurable goals also helps with retention. Research shows that employees who feel they are making progress, engaging in challenging work, and understand how their role contributes to organizational goals are significantly more likely to intend to stay.
Build an Implementation Plan
Professional development programs often focus on introducing new ideas and skills. However, without structured follow-through, what participants learn rarely makes it into their day-to-day work. Organizations can change that by encouraging supervisors to work with returning program participants to identify two or three concrete practices to integrate into their daily routine. A well-executed plan should anticipate obstacles and clarify what support will be needed to sustain and deepen the new practices.
This kind of intentional follow-through can be a game changer in the “engagement crater,” a period, often two to five years into a role, when initial enthusiasm can decline before stabilizing. Without continued growth and reinforcement, early-career professionals may experience that dip more acutely. But attention to growth and progress by both the employees and their managers can help avoid this decline.
For the employee, this practice strengthens competence and confidence. For the organization, it reduces the likelihood that initial enthusiasm dissipates.
Show Genuine Interest in Employee Growth
Managing early-career professionals requires ongoing communication. When organizations encourage supervisors to invest in these conversations, they can learn what motivates an employee and how to help them individually succeed. At the same time, a strong supervisor will affirm specific strengths they have observed, both before and after a professional development experience, and help the employee see their growth as part of a cohesive trajectory.
Opening a conversation about what early career professionals need, how they work best, and what support would enable them to thrive responds to patterns increasingly seen among Gen Z employees. They want clarity, feedback, and meaningful partnership at work. When managers co-create the work environment in this way, employees are more likely to feel heard and valued. These are the conditions that build and strengthen long-term retention.
A Long-Term Investment in Jewish Communal Leadership
In a sector where people are the primary asset, cultivating emerging professionals must become a strategic priority. Many early-career employees initially demonstrate strong alignment with mission and purpose. The question is whether organizations will maintain that alignment over time.
Sustaining professional commitment requires consistent attention. Early-career development should include an arc with multiple touchpoints, beginning with structured onboarding and continuing through the next several years as responsibilities deepen. The foundation built in the first months supports later growth.
In summary, when Jewish nonprofits invest early and consistently in their staff, professionals are equipped to develop confidence and deepen their understanding of the community they serve. Over time, this will foster pride in working on behalf of the Jewish community and encourage long term commitment to the field.
Kiva Rabinsky is the Deputy CEO and Chief Program Officer at M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education. He holds an MPA in Nonprofit Management and an undergraduate degree in Education and Archeology.
Dana Childress is a Vice President, Program at Leading Edge. She focuses on programming designed to strengthen workplaces so all employees can thrive. She is based in Washington, DC.
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JD Vance praises Tucker Carlson-Mike Huckabee interview as ‘a really good conversation’
(JTA) — Vice President JD Vance has weighed in on the Tucker Carlson-Mike Huckabee interview that has ignited widespread antisemitism allegations as well as a diplomatic row with Arab states, calling it “a really good conversation that’s going to be necessary for the right.”
Vance made the comments to the Washington Post, which published them Friday morning. He said he had not seen the entire interview, which was more than two hours long, but had viewed “clips here and there.”
Vance is a longtime ally of Carlson, a leading far-right figure who has stirred a rift among conservatives by platforming antisemites, at times promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories himself and increasingly campaigning against Israel. (Carlson says he is not antisemitic.)
Vance’s refusal to criticize Carlson or seek to end the rift has increasingly alarmed Jewish conservatives. To the Washington Post, he reiterated what he said before when asked about Carlson and the antisemitism rift — that he believes the Republican Party should be an open marketplace of ideas.
He said he was pleased that the right has stoked “a real exchange of ideas,” even when it includes “the people that I find annoying on our side,” whom he did not specify. That exchange, he said, was also essential for electoral success.
“If you think of the Trump coalition in 2024 — and the way that I put it is, you had Joe Rogan, Mark Levin, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and JD Vance and a coalition of people — but to do that, you have to be willing to tolerate debate and disagreement,” Vance said. “And I just think that it’s a good thing.”
Vance is seen as likely to run for president in 2028.
The post JD Vance praises Tucker Carlson-Mike Huckabee interview as ‘a really good conversation’ appeared first on The Forward.
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Amid Iran tensions, Huckabee tells US embassy staff in Israel they should leave ‘TODAY’ if they wish
(JTA) — Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has told U.S. government employees and their families that they may leave the country and should do so expediently, amid mounting signs of a possible U.S. attack on Iran.
Huckabee emailed embassy staff on Friday morning saying that if they want to leave, they should do so “TODAY,” according to a letter first reported by The New York Times. He noted that commercial flights could become scarce and urged them to accept passage to any country before returning to Washington, D.C.
“There is no need to panic, but for those desiring to leave, it’s important to make plans to depart sooner rather than later,” he wrote.
The letter comes a day after U.S.-Iran talks in Geneva ended without public breakthroughs. Iranian officials, as well as the Omani mediators, said additional conversations were planned for next week; the United States did not comment. Steve Witkoff and Jared Kusher, two Jewish advisors to President Donald Trump who successfully brokered a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war last year, are leading the U.S. delegation.
Trump has been threatening to attack Iran for weeks over its nuclear program and has built up U.S. military forces in the Middle East to levels not seen in decades. In recent days, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance have both said military intervention could be needed while saying the president continued to prefer diplomacy.
Vance’s comments were particularly notable because he typically opposes U.S. intervention overseas. He told the Washington Post in comments published Friday morning that there was “no chance” that the United States would get involved in an extended Middle East campaign.
Iran has said it would consider Israel a valid target in the event of a U.S. attack. Last year, Iranian missiles killed more than two dozen people in Israel during a 12-day war initiated by Israeli strikes on Iran’s military program. Now, Israelis have been living in limbo for weeks while waiting to learn whether a new war, expected to be more destructive, will begin.
In the past, when expecting Iranian retaliation, the embassy has warned staff against leaving population centers in Israel. Now, the Department of State has updated its Jerusalem embassy website to reflect “the authorized departure of non-emergency U.S. government personnel and family members of U.S. government personnel to leave Israel,” setting a status that means flights will be paid for by the U.S. government.
While El Al, Israel’s national carrier, does not fly during Shabbat, other airlines typically do run some flights to and from Ben Gurion Airport on Friday nights and Saturdays. Many of those are budget European airlines that have only recently resumed flying to Israel after last year’s Iran war; some airlines, including KLM, have already suspended Israel flights in anticipation of another conflict.
The post Amid Iran tensions, Huckabee tells US embassy staff in Israel they should leave ‘TODAY’ if they wish appeared first on The Forward.